Plant-setting machine.



L. SHAFFE'R.

PLANT SETTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION- .HLED JUNE 16, 1916.

' Patented 31111619, 1917.

19 I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 awmmtoz la; @aawaa '40 accordance withtheinventionfi I ,able others skilled in the-art toJ.whi ch',,it- I' icitizen of the United States,- residing at the fo lowing tobe a full,clear,

name mit 5mm en Ln'rnER SHAFFER, or 3oonn-1own.-

i f l nhn'r-snr'rme mec'nmn;

1 236,806 I I Specification-of Letters Patent.

Application machine s} 191e, Serial No: 103,984." To all whom it mayconcern: If v I Corresponding .Be it known that I, LUTHER SHAFFER', a

'referencecharacters. I I I Spec fically; describing the present-fern:.bodiment of the invention,- the] reference Boone, in the countylofBoone; State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Plant SettinMachine; and I doherebydeclare and exact; description of the invention,such as will en}- I axle 1; and'at .appertains to make and usethe same;I I i-caster wheel The present invention is a machine f0r upon the endsoi the rear, axle l, said rear I as like an aea e se, to in thefollow-in description and indicated A mall the views 0 the drawings, bythe saine v Patented June 19,

character-A designates the mainframe which" a. ,is supported I attherear end thereof ':-.by the f the forward end thereof'byfa I 2.4"Theusual wheels 3 are fixed I setting outyoung plants,..an'd has 'for'iits.iifaxlebeing "rovided atfan intermediate point object to providea'device of-this. character. jinitslengt with the drive sprocket 4'. The

' which e'rnbodiesnovel features. of construe-L.

plants can be quickly paratively small'amount of labon;

expensive in its construction, which can be around theroots' of theplants, ing the plants in an upright position.

V tions and arrangements 0f theparts aswill reference-1s.toflbe-hadltothe foilowing de- "scriptionmand. acc'o'mp'any ng' drawings, in]:Which':- If,

, the furrow covering disks.

;jthe4forward end'ofthe main frame, the usual bn provided-for thispurpose;

quantities of young? tion whereby. large,

set out with a; co

7 Further objects of the'invention-are'i- ,An" adjustable. frame" Bfnponjiwhichitlie provide a machine for settingoutyoung; pl-antlng'mechanismisrnountedis:arran plants which is comparatively simple and in- {I movedover afield without difiicnltyy'which is at all times under perfectcontrol of the.

operator, which will handle the plants Wlth- 'sha'ft 7.jiflii-leveri 8is operativelylconnectedj out danger of breakin or'mutilatin the tooneendofthe crankshaft "fl :.andlj' same, and which pac s the dirt rmly'beobvi'ousjthat{bymanipulatingthislever:

always I leavthe frame" -B can? be swung I up' andfldown,

With these and other objects in view; the f .justed for; eithera*'sha1low0.r,gadee' invention consists in certain novelcombina- I ,ing.This lever {plant Foragfull understanding of the invention; upon a;transverseg'shaft 1 2;- whichfis jourg ,aolapted to be.- en'gaged-..by aslidin 'jclutc Figure'135a"identitiesef'aih chiiie I II forsettin'g outyoung-[plants fconstructed one side of theplanting wheel. The clutch -jjtioned drivesprocket l on the rear'axle 1'. YA ioal sectional. 1

ve chine, taken the side of the clutc view through one s1de of p h .cluthy member rotecting the plants, showing its relation to Fig. 6 is a topplan view thereof.

draft animals are designed to be hitched, to

. thereby enabling the; mechanism; to;- be"? ad'- 8fis; hown} asp'rovied'withf e ber jlccarrlesgai-sprocket wheel 15 "which.

s connected'byiaschain 16 to thebefore men:v

95 clutch. disk-17 is 'ap lied-to the shaft ,12 on member liopposite tothe planting wheel ll and a sprin 18,'whic h" ,Iis interposed betweenthe clutch isk 17 and I .14., normnyjands to slide-{.the'latter intoengagement-with the; clutch & CB 113' of the plantingwheel f 1'1'-,thereby producing anoperative connectionbetween"the planting wheel andthe rear;

ed withinthe main frame A."--.- ;The ,re ren oi? rthe. frame B is;pivoted upon-the lrealr'i axle? while th ,frward end thereof isslidablycjen gaged bythefcrank portion'i 'oiffa-crank i morefullygappearas the description .pro-:gagernentwith.asegmentalLraclif'lO- to loc'ky cee'ds,-;thenovel-features thereof being, point-Q the lever in an adjustedpositioni; edjout in the. appended claims. The planting wheel l l'isrigidly mounted naled upon ithe frame ,3, said wheel' being providedwithJ-Ia-{ lUtCh race -13' which is 9Q member- 14:1? arrangedfuponthesha 12 at when the machine is advanced- A shifting member 14 back andforth upon the'shaft 12 to bring it alternately into engagement with:the clutch face 13 of the planting wheel and' the clutch disk 17 Cam o(wedge members 20 are applied to theg'fece of the planting wheel 11at'suita'ble intervals, and when one of thewedge members engages theshifting" lever 19 the sliding clutchmember 14 is" moved away from theclutch face 13 of the ..planting wheel.

Projecting'radially from the eriphery-of the planting whee-ill at-fsuitale intervals are the'planting arms 21, said arranged in pairs, and thearms of each pair, being bowed outwardly in opposite dire'c- I ar'msbeing tions to provide'ample clearance space for the topfof the youngplant-C which is being set out}, The endsof' the planting arms 21Qterminatein the jaws 22 which are adapted togr'ipthestalk of the'youngplanbC at a point" just above "the roots there'of. "lhese' jaws 22 areshown as projectrom the ends of the'planting arms and theymay be crimpedor shaped fin such a manner as to grip the "plants without danger ofinjuring the-same? Adjusting".

' ing. laterally plant grippin screws 23' are applied to: the' innerends ofj; the" planting arms c2 1, said screws? being 4 thread 'd inZone ofjeachipair oftheplanti'ng 1 arms and rengaging they ;-oppositeplanting arm sothat proper adjustment cani'b e made for setting outlarge orsmall'plants swam, the adjusting screws 23 are tightened thejaws 22 will be sprung sn an apart. so thathj "there will be no unduepr'essure upon the stalkfjof a large. plant; The spring planting arms21' .on' one: side" "the planting whee-l are eachfengaged bv areleasing' qilever 324;;

a saidlevers being =p1vota-lly fifmounted fnpon the planting -intheirlen j. inclined gem track seamen surrounds the "shaftfl-2 p j 'a rgd tqf ifi it jffi ho 5 lQWIE -PG T' 5o 'atingjlevers2 i-to opengfthejaws and. release -tionedl-theifeinq The plant; engagingawsfl are. thenheldin an open position until the grip'theyoung plant-SI;

- s Y For the purpose Ora tomatically feeding the young" plants G to theplanting wheel 11, andIhoriz'ontally f v another young plant; at c which3 time fthe' lisgfi'a s indicated' at] 25,- land the inner ends of theleversslidably engaging an lief, cams surface; er, the track; 26

the plant -lwlueiu the (plant; hasbeen carried down into they-furrowrand v prorperly gjpesi are, rotated into. proper position.- to: reeeive"' toniatically' released ai pe mit ed a transversely -extendindisposed endless apron 2 is arranged upon same,

wheel 11"at. intermediate points thei planting arms which project into'the path ofthe planting arms 21. The endless apron 27 is shown as air ofplant supporting arms 30 will always project- -from the end of the apron2 "(fso as to holda young plant C in proper position ,to be" gripped bythe jaws 22 of a pair of planting arms 21 when the fplantingwheel 11' isro= tated sufficiently for that purpose. .The cam track 26".will actupon the aw controlling I "1 lever 24 to hold the'jaw's 22v inan openposition "until thejawshave'ibeen rotated into proper position toreceive the stalk of the" *'1 young plant C upon the arms 30between thef Thejrjaws" 22 will-then be 'automati .f sally released and permittedto "grip lthe'. 'young'plant. i A cont nued rotary movement of he"planting wheel ll-then'". causes the x plantingarms "21 to engage. theradial arms 30'at'the end ofone of the rollers 28:11 m, 1 fwhich theapron 27 is mounted, thereby auto- .matically advancing the apron'a-suificient "formed of a series of transverse slats 27", "each-of thesaid slats carrying'a plant supporting arms 30 which'pro ect lat- 30 maybe crimped to provide ,amountfte bring another young plant into.'

arms ()j-of *the apron 27 by an operator who positionfor engagement bythe next set of I planting arms21. The young plants will -be I iproperly applicd byvhand to the supporting may oecii'pyasea-t glen-themain semen. These' -young,plants which' are. thus placed ==u m the-seats.30 ofthe supporting arms 30 will bejautomat'ically broughtvintdprc'p'per position astheapron 27 is advancedstepby '1 stepby-engagement of ;,the planting arms-.21 'thfthe i radial;arms'29;of theroller 28 frame Kand constructed'to open ,thefground it'oireeeive'i'the, youngplants which are being .f set-oi1t f"Thisfurrowxopener82 is shown as I suspended by-brackets 33: at the; frontend thereof; the" rear end thereof being rigidly 1 connected ,to' theframe Beby'fi the rods 34;

Theplanti'ngarms 21' of the planting wheel 1 take ,the" small .plantslC,fro'mthe plant release the' 'sa ente l'jals the furrow. The 'youngplant sstightly gripped hetween the-jaws 22 until 21; reach fajyerticalosi' ion-g1;:Thelrespective jaw .controlling ever 24= thenengages a:raisedportion of thecam, track':26 so -as to) spring thejjaws apart and:

v r the same time the roots fzgthe f'yqunlg {plants are. covered withdirt which '=is*= n1rwa upon means .Tsuc'h eedin'g apron 27, anddepositthem'at proper the same by; suitable v 's the disks 3'5, Packing roll--rs 3ti theniipass uponoppositelsides of the forthrowing more I theplant. The two setsof disks and 37,

row,

clutch face young plant and compress the loose dirt around the rootsthereoff A second set of,

disks 37 may follow thepacking rollers 36 dirt 'aroundthe roots of aswell as the packingrollers 36, maybe fjournaled upon'resilient' sidearms 38 whlch are pendent from ed to the furrow opener ried vby theends'of the arms 38, which blocks the frame B, andconnecttimethat theyoung plant is released by the jaws 22 of the planting side of theplanting wheel 11 engages the shifting lever 19 disengage the slidingclutch said clutch being moved into en agement with the clutch disk 17As the sli mg c I is moved from one position toftheopposite 25 positionthere will be a slight'amount of back one notch, thereby-providing formo;

- possibility 425' so as to open charge no zle- 41 which is "the furrow;opening 32. g

form oqvalve' is-p'rovided for'l controlling the outflow of the water41; said valve being trolled by a trip the'pa'th of the planting arms-4:3 is connected to' thetrlp-lever a2 and nor-; T mallyholdsthe-,vaIVeinf-a', closed position; f Howevenjasthe plantingmentarypause there f, and

of the young 'plant jbeing pulled up by the planting arm s, As soon asthe cam or wedge shapedmemb'er .20 is carri beyond the end of theshifting lever 19, the

spring 18 will-again, return the sliding clutch engagement with theclutch face-l3 of the planting wheel 11. I 'A'momen-f thus obtained-asv.ea

dad, may also bemade for the young plantslas they are set "out.

device and arranged lever .42 which will. be successivelyvof the youngplants, 32 by blocks 38 -car-. a

and actuates the same-to? 14 from-the' 13 of the planting wheel 1'1, thev a and clutch disk eliminating any 7 t p varms of the bifurcationstraddle and engage ed l the lever- .19. is

thefrotat1on of the planting 1 y n v v the po s-1v 'sibility'of theyoung plantrbeing pulled up by'the-planting arms isthus 'a'voi IProvision j 20 arranged adjacent the i clutch sleeve 14- forcedjoutiofengagement ,IW'ith the clutch ae is of -the planting-1- watering-,-;wheel,E11,,"and i For 1 this purpose a water reservoir:- 39i'sjshownlg as mounte 'cllitch disk 17,,The'teeth' f 17 are arranged 6..upon" the forward end of the, ofthe 'eluteh sleeve connected bya pipe 40toa disarranged within I face13bf the'plantinglwhe A conventional"for-the- Iutch -s1eeve114/to rotate a'distancetiv'e engagement v is mad21, j IA spring I responding -teeth.

wheel revolves, the

1 l the clutchdisk 17; Thi's'arrangement' of the- "13 is clearly I mainstationary h four sets of planting be understood that a greater or lessnumber offplantmg armsjmay be provided, depending upon the spaces whichit may be desired to maintain between the. young plants being set out.These planting arms '21 are easily removable, and the operator' caneither apply additional planting arms to'the wheel to obtain a closerspacing or remove a portion of the planting. arms already upon the wheel'the young. plants. \Means have been above generally dewhen a plant isbeing deposited in the furrow. from'the planting arms, and it isdesirable'tdcombine with this mechanism means 17 from the planting Wheelwhen the machine 15 machine around'at the end offurrows; .l orv theclutch lever 19 "is-ibifur I bifurcation'beingconnected apivot bolt.which is supported bracket 51. The.

a transversely extending the clutch sleeve 14:;while; thelowerend ofprojected" downwardly and, offset at 119 sofas to en age thelinclinedblocks 20 carried bythep antin g wheel. .At the instantJ-thatf the'lowerset of. planting plant into the, furrow,'--the I oil-set lower end1-9" of the lever 19 is'engaged by the block] arms 21', and'the into-;e'ngager'nent with the with'relation tothe teeth 14:: that afterdisengage-.

'ment'; of' the clutch sleeve lefromjthe clutch;-

el it is necessary.

out of use or when it is, ','desired to' cease "planting while. turningthe lutch 14 this purpose a c'ated at its'upper end; asindicated at 19,

lost motion and the planting wheel will drop 1 the arms of the in ordertoobtain a greater spacing between for entirely disengaging both theclutch 14;

'arms 21 reach'the proper position to drop a lee of the clutch diskequal" to sloibstantiallyjthe distance between the teeth'onthe-clutchsleeve 14 before a'posrdisk .17 In "other words the teeth ofjthesubstantially a e with-the clutch r clutch disk17 are soarranged thatthe cor- 'on theclutch sleeve 14 are distanceleeoiual to the dista'neebetween the teeth; behind theteethof' .teeth-of the clutch sleeve 14sand'clutch disk Fig. 1 of the drawings; and it will be 'obviousthatafter diseni' 1' from the of timeequal .toi j Thismomentary stoppage ofthe planting wheel 1]. allows the plantto be dropped into the furrowwhile the planting arms are sta-' tionary, thus obviating thepossibility ofthe plant being pulled up or knocked over by the arms aswould probably be the case if the plant was dropped while the wheelrotated. As soon as the clutch sleeve 14 positively engages the clutchdisk 17, the Wheel from engagementwith the lever 19, when- 11 willberotated so as to move the block the spring-18 will force the clutchsleeve 14 again into engagement with. the clutch face The wheel willthen. be rotated'until the next -block '20 l is brought into engagementwith the'lever 19, when the clutchsleeve 14;

will again be operated as above described.

The clutch, disk 17 is slidably mounted .-upon a square portion 52 ofthe shaft 12 land is normally forced toward the clutch sleeve 14 by aspring 53 although its movementin this direction is limited by the lug54 on the inner end of the square portion of the shaft. The beforementioned spring 18 is interposed between the lug 54'and the clutchsleeve 14. and normally tendsto separateithe clutch disk 17 and theclutch sleeve 14. A second-clutch lever similar in construction to thebefore mentionedlever 19 engages. the clutchdisk' Hand ispivotthroughboth'of the slots 57 and 58 in the levers 55 and 19..- Theinner end of this rod provided with the ballsor. shoulders. A

, '61 which are arranged upon theiinnerj sides? of-theslots; 573'3J1d58, and are of a-size greater than the width of the slots so as toprevent. themffrom passing therethrough;

' With this construction it will be seen that}- when the swinging frame13' islthrown up? Use and; 58..of the levers 55 and 19 willj co sleeve-14: away from the plantingjwheel sponding distances so that they willalso be separated. The clutch sleeve 1i willthen be, free to rotateloosely upon the shaft 12-, a1 though it will be disengaged entirelyfromthe planting wheeland the clutch disk 17 so that the machine may bedrawn about over i the ground with the planting wheel'in a station ofLetters Patent, is

ifor automatically tionary position. It will thus be seen that themechanism described operates so that when theswinging frame B is swungupwardly into inoperative position the rotathe-planting wheel isautomatically stopped; 1

' .A seat .705is providedfat the front of the machine for the driver. ofthe draft animals,

the seat 31 being providedfor the operator placing the plants upon thecarrier apron 27.

It might be desirable when setting out certain kinds of young plants toprovide means for preventing the covering disks 35 from completelycovering the plants with earth. One possible solution of this 'rob- Ilem is shown by Figs. 5 and 6 of the. rawings. Sheet metal guard plates71'are bent outwardly in front of the disks 35, the'side edges of theplates being bent rearwardly and secured to the disk and packing rollercarrying arms 38'. f The loweredges' of the plates are spaced from thelevel of the ground to allow the loose earth to pass be-ff neath themandabout the roots of the plants; With this construction the disks 36may force the earth under the plates 71 to completely cover the roots ofthe plants, but an excessive amount of earth or large lumps areprevented from falling upon the plants and held back by the guard plates71'. These guards may or may not be used according to the varyingrequirements and conditions.

.Havi'ng thus described the invention, what Tfclairn as new anddesire 1. =11 machine for setting out young plants,

to secure including a supporting frame, a planting wheel, mountedthereon, spring planting arms projecting-radially therefrom-and arrangedin. coiiperating pairs for gripping the plants,means for supplying youngplants to the means or automatically separating the armsfto deposit theyoung plant rrow, and means formomentarily 7. interrupting the rotationof .the planting.'

lanting arms, a furrow opener,

planting in the wheel aseach plant is released."

v 2. A machine for setting, out young plants,

wardly into .an'inoperative position by means. of the crank shaft 7, theinclined "slots 57 including a .su porting frame a planting vvhe'elmounte thereon; -'-=spr 1ng planting v p I ",arms operate with the balls61 on therod-59 so h as to'force both the clutch disk 17 and clutch;

projecting radially therefrom and an range plantingfannsto deposit theyoung plants 1n the furrow;- clutch controlled driving means fortheplanting wheel, and means "1 4 p n ng th clutch as each young plant isreleased.

3. A machine for setting out young plants,

including a sup ortingframe,-a planting wheel mounted. t ereonandprovided with I a clutch face, a shaft carrying the planting wheel andrigid therewith, a clutch disk furrow opener, and cam means upon theplanting wheel for engaging the shifting lever to momentarily shift theposition of the sliding clutch each time a young plant is deposited.

4. A machine for setting out young plants, including a supporting frame,a lanting wheel mounted thereon, and provided with a clutch face, ashaft carrying the planting wheel and rigid therewith, a

clutch disk rigid with the shaft, a. sliding clutch member mounted uponthe shaft for engagement with either the planting wheelor the clutchdisk, a spring normally holding the sliding clutch member in engagementwiththe clutch face of the planting wheel, a shifting lever operativelyconnected to the sliding clutch member, driving means for rotating thesliding clutch member, planting arms projecting from the planting Wheeland arranged in cooperating pairs for gripping the plants, a furrowopener, means for automatically separating the planting arms to depositthe young plants in the furrow, and cam members upon the planting wheelfor engagement with the shifting lever to automatically and momentarilyshift the position of the sliding clutch each time a young plant isdeposited, thereby causing a pause in the rotation of the plantingwheel.

5. A machine for setting out young plants, including a supporting frame,a shaft, a planting wheel mounted upon the shaft, clutch controlleddriving means for rotating the planting wheel, a shifting lever for theclutch controlled drive means, planting arms projecting radially fromthe planting wheel and arranged in cooperating pairs for gripping theplants, means for supplying young plants to the planting arms, a furrowopener, an annular cam track, re-

'- leasing levers mounted upon the planting wheel and actuated byengagement with the separate the automatically cam track to and depositthe young plants planting arms in the furrow,

planting wheel for engaging the shifting lever to momentarily break thedriving connection each time .a young plant is deposited.

6. it machine for setting out young and cam members upon the plants,including a supporting frame, a planting wheel mounted thereon, plantingarms projecting therefrom and arranged for gripping the plants, anendless feed apron for supplying the plants to the planting arms, meansoperatively connected to the feed apron and arranged in the path of theplanting armsfor advancing the endless feed apron,- and means forrotating the planting wheel.

7. A machine for setting out young plants, including a supporting frame,a planting wheel mounted thereon, planting arms projecting therefrom andarranged for gripping the plants, an endless feed apron for supplyingthe plants to the planting arms said feed apron comprising a beltmounted upon rollers, radial arms projectfor advancing the feed apron,for rotating the planting wheel.

8. A- machine for setting out young.

plants including a main supporting frame,

a dcond frame (pivotally mounted upon the main frame an adapted to beraised into an inoperative position and lowered intoan operativeposition, a planting wheel mount: ed thereon, clutch controlled .meansfor rotating the planting wheel, when the second frame is in anoperative position, a lever operatively connected with said clutch meansand having a cam thereon, and means upon the main supporting frameadapted to cooperate with said cam to stop the rotation of the plantingwheel when the second frame is raised into an inoperative position.

9. A machine for setting out young plants, including a supporting frame,a planting rotating theplan'ting wheel, and means for momentarilyinterrupting the rotation of the planting wheel as each plant isdeposited. 4 i v v 10. A machine for setting out young plants, includinga supporting frame, a planting wheelmounted thereon, clutch con trolledmeans wheel mounted thereon, means for m for rotating the planting 3wheel, and meanscarried by the planting Q wheel for operating theclutch. controlled means to momentarily stop the rotation of j theplanting wheel as each plant, is deposited. 11. A plants, second andadapted to be raised including a supporting it frame pivotally mountedinto an inoperarame, a

thereon machine for setting dut young tive position or lowered into anoperative of the planting Wheel or the clutch disk, driving meansconnected to the sliding clutch, yielding means for normally holding thesliding clutch in engagement with the clutch face on the planting Wheel,a lever operatively connectedto the sliding clutch and provided with acam, a second lever operatively connected to the clutch disk andprovided with a cam, and means upon the main supporting frame adapted tocooperate with the cam upon each of said levers to shift the slidingclutch from engagement with the planting Wheel, and the clutch disk awayfrom the sliding clutch, When the second frame is raised into aninoperative position. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

LUTHER SHAFFER.

- Witnesses:

HERBERT WooDRUFF, HERMAN J. ABBENsETH.

